Let's face it. Twisted Metal is pretty dead right now and in 2012 Sony did next to nothing to promote one of it's longest running titles. I feel like Sony is ashamed of what the series has become and has issues with marketing a game whose lead character is a fat psycho clown with a head full of fire who murdered his family for fun. Hell even the relentlessly angry Kratos in God of War series had a reason for his anger (murdered his family against his own will by being tricked).

What would be your thoughts on doing the series with a more realistic and relatable characters who enter the tournament on their own will and then have their wishes ruined by Calypso tricking them?

Re: Your thoughts on a little bit of a rebranding?Reply #1 - 01/23/17 at 08:39:59

Tl;dr : make the gameplay addixting.

While I love the story, it is the gameplay that will get people addicted. Rocket League wasn't the number one downloaded game for no reason. This is where Twisted Metal needs to brand itself. Gameplay>Story.

The killer clown story can always be tweaked. As long as we have Sweet Tooth, in some shape or form, because he is Twisted Metal's poster boy. But we need some other iconic characters that casuals will like, too, not just the diehards.

I am not holding my breath anymore for a new game but I will be one the first admit always scour E3 news, etc for any TM news, to just be disappointed. At least Crash Bandicoot got its remastered edition. Maybe we will get that.

Re: Your thoughts on a little bit of a rebranding?Reply #2 - 01/23/17 at 20:45:34

The gameplay is not what weighs the series down. In fact, the gameplay is the strongest element of the franchise. I still truly believe that vehicle combat is the pinnacle of all genres of gaming. And I mean true vehicle combat, not the demo derby or combat racing crap we've been bombarded with in recent years. The problem with vehicle combat games to date is that every one has had core flaws that prevent them from fully realizing the genre's untapped potential, on top of the fact that many of the gems from the past are showing their age with inconsistent networking and a lack of simple options like a proper TDM mode. One of the defining traits of Twisted Metal games has always been that they are perfectly imperfect. Every title has its own laundry list of issues, but (most of them) have redeeming qualities that allow us to see past them.

I do agree that Twisted Metal needs a form of rebranding though. At the least, it needs a change of focus with emphasis on reestablishing a widespread online community. Games with gameplay that is far inferior to TM 2012's have had great success, if just because they have been promoted as having a robust community. Rocket League is a great example of this, which was a fresh concept which demonstrated its potential as a competitive game through its small, yet impassioned community based around its predecessor SARPBC. I have invested a few hundred hours into Rocket League for lack of a better alternative, and the gameplay is far, far inferior to that of TM 2012's. Since Twisted Metal has been in the can long enough that its return would be a fresh offering compared to current AAA titles once again, it has equal if not more potential to succeed in the same way Rocket League has.

We need one thing, and one thing only: developers who give a shit. I completely get why many hate TM 2012 with a passion, because it possesses core flaws that ESP and SMS couldn't be bothered to listen to their fanbase about, on top of support for it being dropped like a hot potato shortly after release. Jaffe and company were incompetent to the extent that they nerfed Axel within the initial weeks (it being the second-worst vehicle in the game) instead of addressing crap like auto-aim mega guns which weren't fixed until two and a half months after release. I remember there being a competitive ladder and MLG showing interest in the game shortly after launch, but with the balance being utterly broken and the server errors being unbearable for a lot of players, widespread competitive interest in the game faded quickly. The competitive community could have been sustains as large as it was during launch if it simply wasn't unbalanced and broken. Ironically, it has been the niche competitive community and clans that has kept the game alive years later.

If Sony realizes the sole reason TM 2012 performed poorly in sales was because they shot themselves in the foot, and if they employed a developer that would create a quality product while listening to us fans, Twisted Metal could greatly succeed. As for the question if the series should be rebranded, I suppose I would answer the question by suggesting that more resources should be put into perfecting the formula of vehicle combat and building the online community. While the single player tournament mode should still exist and each vehicle should have its own driver, keep it simple like it was in previous games. There's no need for multi-stage boss battles like in TM 2012, as that's never been what Twisted Metal has been about. The small portion of the market that buys the game only for the single player is doing to for nostalgia, so give them the same experience they had with previous games fighting hoards of contestants to reveal a comic book style ending. For the rest of us, focus your efforts into the gameplay and online since that's what will sustain sales past launch.

Re: Your thoughts on a little bit of a rebranding?Reply #5 - 01/26/17 at 01:54:48

To me, twisted metal has always been stylized Americana at its best. The world is suppose to be almost like any hollywood badass action flick with late 80's early 90's gritty comic book undertones added to it. Think of Die Hard crossed with Mad Max, Terminator 2, and mid to late 90's Marvel comics.

If twisted metal were to be rebooted, rebranded, remade...what ever term you choose to throw at it, I feel the setting needs to me set back to the 90's. The gameplay works with itself, simple face pace action with very tight and smooth controls on top of a small yet balanced weapons set and a decent lineup of about 10 to 15 characters.

The story shouldn't be overly deep, but shouldn't be to disconnected from the franchise. Each character gets their own end movie to look forward to where in traditional TM fashion their wish doesn't turn out exactly the way they want.

Multiplayer shouldn't be some over the top, need to reinvent the wheel type mode. Rather it should be a basic and pick up and play experience, including basic deathmatch, free-for-all, and, last man standing game modes. Maybe even add in random loot drops similar to overwatch, no keys or purchase necessary.

Multiplayer shouldn't be some over the top, need to reinvent the wheel type mode. Rather it should be a basic and pick up and play experience, including basic deathmatch, free-for-all, and, last man standing game modes. Maybe even add in random loot drops similar to overwatch, no keys or purchase necessary.

I agree with everything in the first three paragraphs of your post, but I find this last paragraph a tad contentious. I think that a lot of the hardcore community that plays/has played online, whether it be TM2 TMBO TMHO or TM 2012, would agree that all the games were hindered by the fact that team modes and critical options to customize the game were lacking, if not entirely omitted in every title. While TM has a reputation on the surface of being a casual multiplayer game, it's much more than that under the surface, and a very large portion of hardcore fans come back to the game time and time again because of the hidden depth in these games. FFA modes hold limited appeal because the modes themselves limit depth, and while they're good for a quick casual fix, a lot of the online community stays hooked to these games because of the enhanced depth that team modes offer, and do so regardless of the inconvenience of needing to imply our own customization and restrictions of what is and what isn't allowed.

That certainly doesn't mean that DM and LMS modes shouldn't exist. I just don't want to see another TM game that is developed FFA-first, because when playing as an individual in a lobby there is almost always a way to exploit the mode, especially if the level of skill among players ranges. In contrast, team modes much better accommodate wider ranges of skill and teamwork adds more to the game than I can ever express, especially in TM 2012's formula. There are a ton of elements in that game that added so much to teamplay, such as killstreaks which place a ton of influence into protecting/targeting streaking players, as well as timed pickup and health respawns which (in my opinion) give health a purpose in online teamplay and create a turf war that incites battles for map control when health and weapons are expected to respawn. In FFA modes, the existence of kilstreaks and health are terrible and only add to imbalance, but in team modes these features substantially add to the game's depth. I don't want to see such features discarded and less customization to be available if teamplay isn't considered important in the game's development and balance.